Youth minister charged with sex abuse

A Whitley County Grand Jury handed down a pair of separate sex abuse indictments Monday morning, including one against a church youth minister.

The grand jury charged Mark Lafferty, 43, of Corbin, with five counts of second-degree sodomy and five counts of first-degree sexual abuse.

According to the indictment on Aug. 4, Oct. 1, and Dec. 13, 2014, and Jan. 19, 2015 and Feb. 1, 2015, Lafferty allegedly engaged in deviate sexual intercourse with a male under the age of 14 years old, according to his indictment.

Also on those same dates, he allegedly subjected a minor child under the age of 18 years old to sexual contact, whom he had come into contact with as a result of his position of authority, according to the indictment.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Allen Trimble said that Lafferty is a youth minister at an area church, whom the child had contact with.
Trimble declined to identify the church where Lafferty worked, but said the abuse allegedly took place at Lafferty’s residence.
Lafferty was booked into the Whitley County Detention Center for a short period of time late Monday afternoon and then released on a $20,000 property bond.

The grand jury also indicted a Williamsburg man Monday morning in connection with a different sex abuse case.

The grand jury charged Cory Alan Mattox, 26, with first-degree sexual abuse in connection with a Nov. 30 incident involving a female victim, according to his indictment.

Williamsburg Police Chief Wayne Bird said that the victim, who is under the age of eight, confided in someone on April 27, who in turn reported it to Williamsburg police. When police interviewed Cory Mattox on April 28, he confessed, and police charged him with first-degree sexual abuse, Bird said.

"All we know from the investigation at this point is it appears to have happened once in November," Bird said.
Mattox allegedly fondled the girl while she slept.

Bird said Mattox didn’t give police any specific reason for why he did it.

"He stated that he had some problems. He also stated that he was a victim of sexual assault at a younger age that happened in another state but he didn’t give any details on it," Bird said.

Based upon their investigation, police don’t believe that the girl was abused more than once.

If a child is under the age of 12, then first-degree sex abuse carries a penalty of five to 10 years in prison on each count. If the child is 12 or over, then the penalty is one to five years on each count, Trimble said.

The penalty for second-degree sodomy is five to 10 years in prison on each count.